The story “Phaethon” has many traits that are common in Greek folktales. The most outstanding of the many would be the constant presence of Gods in the story. In the story of Phaethon a man journeys to find his father who is the Sun God. Although other cultures do have Gods inside their folktales, the Greeks and Romans have a unique way of representing the Gods. They have different Gods for all of nature's things, as seen in this story with Apollo, the Sun God, who is Phaethon's father. In the Greek folktales, the Gods are not just acting outside of the story, they very often interfere in the stories of mankind. Apollo actually interacts with Phaeton, talking to him and giving him advice. Supernatural abilities also exist throughout these tales. For example, at the end of the story Phaethon gets what he wants and flies on the back of a Sun chariot with mystical Sun horses. This greatly demonstrates the Greeks making supernatural and mystical devices inside their literature. Personification is also used in many cases in the folktales of the Greek culture. Personification is when a human ability is given to an non-human object. In the story Phaethon says “great rivers hid themselves in the ground.” Of course rivers cannot hide, only living things can, therefore the Greeks used a clever personification to show how the rivers dried up. With the assistance of the presence of the Gods, supernatural powers, and personification Greek folktales have gained their reputation of being thrilling and addicting stories.
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